Thursday, March 08, 2012

Thursday Roundup (3/8/2012)

Finding links that Mark Thoma hasn't already found is always a tall order. Which is why my roundups always inevitably contain some repeats from his daily lists. Everyone in the econ blogosphere should just start using the phrase "htmt", meaning "hat tip Mark Thoma"...

2. David Beckworth shows that stock prices correlate with inflation expectations. He argues that this is evidence that aggregate demand is driving macroeconomic performance. But shouldn't stock prices rise if the price of output itself is expected to rise?

4. David Barboza has some very interesting insights into China's ongoing structural transformation; apparently, the shift from state-owned enterprises to private industry, which stalled or reversed in recent years, is becoming a big point of political contention within the country.

11. Alex Tabarrok points out that high college dropout rates mean we should reevaluate who we send to college. Anecdotally, I know of some kids who go to college expecting to party and not to work. They tend to drop out, since American colleges actually do make you work pretty hard. Those party kids would be more at home in Japan or China, where universities are notorious for being all about partying and not about homework.